Tuesday, 30 March 2010

The deadline for submission of comments on the New Barnet Town Centre Framework has now passed. We will have to wait and see how many responses were received by the Council but it must run to several hundred. I saw a group of people outside Sainsbury's queuing up to give their comments to the Save New Barnet Team. Unfortunately, I suspect we will hear nothing now until after the elections. I just hope common sense has prevailed and the Council accept that most residents in New Barnet don't want any superstore developments.

Friday, 19 March 2010

The Consultation period for the New Barnet Town Centre Framework closes on Tuesday 23 March. Please make sure you have sent in your response. Please be very careful of filling in the Council's feedback questionnaire as your answers will be open to interpretation. Ideally write your own letter or download the pro forma letter from the Save New Barnet website - see the link in the side bar. Every single letter is counted so make sure that Barnet Council understand how you feel about the future of New Barnet.

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Having studied the Town Centre Framework in some detail, it strikes me that there are a number of very serious issues which don't necessarily come out clearly in the documents. Option 1, which is residential development on the Gasworks and Optex sites (something proposed by the Save New Barnet Campaign last year), seems to be portrayed in such a way as to make it look a rather negative option. By contrast, Options 2 &3, which favour retail development on the Optex and Gasworks sites respectively, are portrayed in much more favourable terms. However, as with some many things in life, the devil is in the detail. Options 2 & 3 don't talk about the size of retail development nor do they talk about the additional traffic that would be generated. Option 2 (Tesco own Optex site) could only be accessed from Victoria Road making life utterly miserable for anyone living on this narrow residential road.What is also tucked away in one of the appendices is the impact assessment on the Sainsbury's store in New Barnet. The Framework document suggests that if a 2,500 square metre store (a bit smaller than the current Sainsbury's) was openedon either of the sites, it would take half of Sainsbury's turnover potentially making the Sainsbury's store unviable. As a result, rather than generating competition, we would simply have Sainsbury's replaced by another single supermarket operator. Change but not competition. Overall, the only realistic option is Option 1.Make your opinion count - Tell Barnet Council what you think - deadline 23 March.Mr Reasonable will be voting for Option 1!

Monday, 1 March 2010

I have just come back from the exhibition at St Jame's Church. The problem is that the display boards were extremely superficial. Nothing about traffic or whether or not we need any more supermarkets. It will be incredibly difficult to come to a clear and rational conclusion based on the evidence presented. I just hope that people can see through the spin!